PNU AND A GAME IN HAT

PNU-government seems to be playing hard ball with the plight of the Kenyan people. It is now becoming clear that the double-speak that they have adopted lately are tactics that have been played/tried before(-read THE INFAMOUS MOU'S). From a rigid position of declining to share power and creating the position of a PM. to their half-green light on it. PNU-government is in the business of "smoke-screens". They want to appear busy. Busy doing nothing-it doesn't matter, it doesn't worry them either despite the fact that the country continues to bleed.

They want to "act-like" indeed they have ceded some ground. But wait a minute, they have also insisted nonetheless that the deal with ODM should not be entrenched into the Constitution. Citing the "supreme law" that the constitution is. Even if "the supreme law" has ceased to serve and has thus become a dinosaur.

Shouting "constitution!" may well be part of the PNU-Government game-plan. They are creating room and environment for possible legal challenges in court. As ODM insists such landmark changes be executed through an amendment to the Constitution so that the likes of MOU'S are avoided.

There are reports of court cases being lined up to derail the Annan-led deals once they are finalized. Some of the challenges in the bag of legal options includes; the annulment of parliamentary elections as well — a move that could send shivers down the spines of all MPs. In the meantime, PNU-government continues to give mixed signals over the Annan talks. Although its negotiators seem to be softening their stand, the same is not true in its parliamentary group.

While conceding the Constitution has been amended over the years, Mungatana maintains Kenyans must mandate key changes such as the creation of a PM'S through a referendum.

The other ploy up in PNU-government hand-bag is openly dragging their feet in the negotiation. For instance, last Friday PNU-negotiators skipped the morning session to consult President Kibaki and a day earlier to attend a funeral.The negotiations did not start until well into the afternoon hours.

While ODM want an immediate political solution, including appointment of a PM, PNU-governmen wants a comprehensive constitutional review that will culminate in effecting ODM's demands within a year. PNU politicians also argue creation of PM post requires time to enshrine it into the constitution with the necessary structures and budget.

A lengthy and tiring process is bound to work against ODM, and the country that needs to reclaim its peace. The PNU-government is banking on the premise that, the longer it hangs on the more they will be entrenched.The Kenyan people will just throw in the towels into submission.

With PNU's leader having taken an oath of office as President and its politicians bent on preservation of status quo, the Annan talks serve political interests of the country and ODM more than PNU.

This probably explains why the party has given a cold shoulder to a number of world leaders keen on supporting the mediation.

1)South Africa's Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the first to arrive, waited for two days to secure an appointment with Kibaki.

2)Indifferent Government officials were later to derogatively describe the mission of Ghanaian President and immediate former African Union chairman, Mr John Kufour, as having "come for a cup of coffee or was it tea?" with his age-mate Mr. Kibaki.

3)South Africa's renowned mediator and former African National Congress Secretary General, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, followed suit when he left in a huff after PNU negotiators alleged he had business dealings with the ODM leader,Mr.Raila Odinga. The list is long.